A Dragon Rose
by ame.i.kurololita11
Summary: She had an unhealthy craze for oranges and cinnamon. Tsunade was cagey and she had no qualms placing her in the Black Ops. She was strangely…intriguing. They could give her that much. Rated M for swearing and later content, crappy summary, sorry!
1. Placed in Rough Care

Eh, so this suddenly came to me out of nowhere and I know you might hate me. Please bear with my nonsense. And between, the Akatsuki is a good bunch here: 3

A Dragon Rose

She had an unhealthy craze for oranges and cinnamon. Tsunade was cagey and she had no qualms placing her in the Black Ops. She was strangely…intriguing. Those three could give her that much.

1: Placed in Rough Care

"Are you sure of your decision? It was a mere suggestion." The young woman spoke.

Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Given your skills, placing you in the hospital would be a waste."

Tsunade looked at the young woman before her. She smiled, "They'll be here."

The girl's voice was laced with no emotion at all, "What of the man who is always late?"

Tsunade laughed, having had the advice the young woman provided her. It really helped with the hangovers. Tsunade'd been surprised that she never thought of it.

"I told him that we were meeting six hours ago." Tsunade replied.

Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha arrived immediately, their respective remnants of black feathers and leaves imminent that they had teleported. Surprisingly, a head of silver poked his head through the window, surprised and inwardly annoyed for being on time.

"Hokage-sama." Itachi and Sasuke greeted their leader.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head before sighing, "Eh, Hokage-sama, you got me this time…"

Tsunade became serious, "Boys, I'd like to inform you of some good news. We've found a good replacement for Shisui on your team. Damn him, he just had to leave ANBU…"

Nobody even noticed the other woman in the office until Tsunade pointed her out, "She is going to be your new teammate."

They turned to see the woman. She was innately like Kakashi, wearing a mask that covered half of her face. Most of her black hair was very short, barely reaching above her shoulders. However, three braided lengths emerged from the right at the nape of her neck; each was decorated with several beads and some black feathers at the end. The braids ended just below her breasts and frankly, that was where Sasuke had been staring since he'd taken notice of her. It was bad enough that she was undeniably beautiful, what made it worse was that she was in full ANBU gear, her mask in her hand.

Her eyes were what piqued their interests the most. The right eye was silver surrounded by a ring of crimson and her left eye was an unnerving sky blue with no pupil at all. She was still…enchanting.

"I hope my eyes will not bring nightmares to you." Her voice carried absolutely no emotion.

Kakashi looked at her up and down. He hadn't seen her and if she was worthy enough to be placed in the ANBU, they must have heard of her name somewhere.

"Who are you?" Itachi asked, armed at the ready.

What Tsunade did next roused their suspicions levels off the charts. Tsunade quickly took out something and smiled, "Here, this is your hidai ate."

The young woman deftly caught it, thanked Tsunade and nimbly tied it around her forehead, fixing her hair around it.

"What's the bloody meaning of this," Sasuke growled before adding, "Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade glared at him before replying, "I see you managed to remember your manners this time."

Tsunade looked at the young woman, "Please introduce yourself to your teammates. We cannot have them attacking you with kunai every second."

The young woman nodded before speaking.

"My name is Aria. Surnames are of no importance. I am twenty years old. My masked name will be Nightingale and yes, I am the assassin you have in mind. I tolerate no formalities."

Kakashi looked at Tsunade, his lone eye wider than a saucer, "When? How? Why?"

Tsunade glared at him, "Be thankful that she has chosen our side of the fight. She will be integrating into Konoha as a full citizen starting now. I have a mission that you will go to in a week. Use this time to get acquainted with your new teammate. You will receive details of the mission two days before the mission, when our spy team will return. So see you on Friday, team Kakashi!"

When they began asking questions, Tsunade only entertained one.

"This is an absolute order. Take her with you to the training grounds immediately. She will need to acquaint herself with your techniques. And Aria, I know how short your fuse is. Don't go around hacking them to death for every comment, they are also human."

Aria bowed to Tsunade before going out the window.

Tsunade looked at the three men and sighed, "She is an ally, boys. We cannot lose her alliance because if we do, only know this. Konoha will burn."

Her tone had death laced with it and the three knew better than to disobey that tone. They nodded, going out to search this new teammate of theirs.

They found her on Training Ground 3, meditating calmly in the middle of the field.

They made only the slightest rustle over the grass, only to barely dodge a rain of poisoned senbon that came their way.

Aria's voice was frozen as she stood up, "I am an assassin and I am always on the hunt. Forgive my transgressions…old habits die hard."

Itachi stepped forward, "I propose a trade."

Aria's eyes, surprisingly, unnerved Itachi, "That depends on what the trade is."

Sasuke looked at the woman in awe; he'd never felt Itachi's chakra falter like that before.

"You will tell us more of your purpose here, assassin." Kakashi spoke, trying his level best not to get weirded out by her eyes. Damn those, they were creepy!

Aria replied, "What do I receive in return?"

Kakashi spoke, "We will tell you what we will."

Aria extended a hand, "Accepted then, I still do not know your names."

Kakashi shook it first, "Hatake Kakashi, sole survivor and head of the Hatake bloodline, tutored under the late Fourth Hokage, thirty-one years old, captain of this team."

Aria nodded before moving to Itachi who spoke, "Itachi Uchiha, head of the Uchiha bloodline, ex-captain of a previous ANBU team, and I am twenty-seven years old."

Before Sasuke could even extend his hand, he was greeted by a sharp, resounding slap, courtesy from the back of Aria's left hand.

Sasuke spat out some blood and asked, "What the fuck was that for, bitch?"

Aria's voice seemed to have frozen the atmosphere around her, "Be glad that I have not stabbed you. If you wish to live near me, you will not keep looking at my breasts, chicken ass."

Sasuke swore he heard a snicker from both of the other men, which were quickly forgotten when Itachi spoke, "I apologize for his…unsavory behavior. He is my younger brother, Sasuke, second in line to the Uchiha, previously mentored by Kakashi, twenty-five years old."

Aria nodded and spoke, "I believe it is my turn to reveal intelligence. However, if you will not mind, could any of you tell me where I can find a fruit stall around here?"

All three men gawked at her. Her tone made it all the more hilarious, because it was one of ice.

Kakashi struggled with his laughter before speaking, "Yes, there is one very nearby. I trust you can talk while we lead you there?"

Aria nodded and Kakashi swore he could have seen a smile under that infernal mask of hers. Oh wait, who was he to judge?

As all four of them walked down the streets of Konoha, people began to stare at the team's newest female member. One, they had never seen her before. Two, she was hot. Three, most were men.

"You three are well known amongst your people." Aria spoke, her vision still facing forward, unaffected by the men at the sidelines who kept sending her glances.

"In actuality, they are looking at you, Aria." Itachi spoke as-a-matter-of-factly.

As they walked, Kakashi asked, "Why are you here?"

"I can only tell you what the Hokage has allowed me. I am the Nightingale. I trained under many renowned assassins around the world. I have a debt to the Hokage that I believe I will not be able to complete even under death, so to honor me, she has asked me to become a citizen here."

"And you blatantly agreed? Lies!" Sasuke hissed.

Itachi and Kakashi both hit him on the back of his head when Aria turned around, her eyes emanating killer intent. The intent faded and Aria spoke, "I told you that I am under her debt. I cannot disclose anything against orders."

"Why do you have eyes like that and why do you wear a mask?" Kakashi asked while Itachi berated Sasuke for being a dimwit.

"Why did you agree to take Itachi's cousin's Sharingan and why do you wear yours, Hatake-san?" Aria's voice was cutting edge and each word got deeper than Kakashi expected them to.

"Who told you?" Kakashi's voice was dangerous. Aria's voice rivaled it, "The Hokage gave me in-depth knowledge about all my teammates so that I will be able to meld into this…arrangement."

Itachi's voice too became low, "So why does she tell you everything about us and nothing about you? For all we know, you could have placed the Hokage under a genjutsu and-"

"Itachi." Her voice was powerful, "I could have easily killed her too. However, as I said, I am in Tsunade-sama's debt and I was willing to become a part of her village and protect it."

Kakashi did not sit well with the fact that the girl before him knew so much. In order to stop the glaring war between Aria and Itachi, he broke the ice, "We're at the fruit stall as per your request."

The fruit vendor present was a young woman who immediately swooned at the presence of three ANBU operatives, "Hello, what can I get for you?"

Aria's voice was cutting edge, "Where can I get ten kilograms of ripe, firm mandarins and a kilogram of cinnamon around here?"

The fruit vendor looked baffled, "Ma'am…um…"

Aria's voice became icier, "It was a simple question, woman."

Kakashi intervened, "Aria, it will not bode well for you to emanate that aura in front of civilians."

The fruit vendor quickly retreated, when an older man came to greet them.

"I asked the woman for ten kilograms of mandarins and a kilogram of cinnamon. Is it that difficult for her to speak when she is on an estrogen drive?"

The trio as well as the fruit vendor looked at her incredulously after which, the fruit vendor quickly spoke, "Yes, we do, Ma'am. Right this way."

Kakashi and Itachi exchanged a glance.

"Does she lack that much subtlety?" Sasuke asked, his jaw hanging rather wide open.

Aria quickly got out with what she wanted, lifted them over her back and paid the man. Her voice changed completely, "Thank you! I loved the riper ones!"

When she returned, her voice was once again completely icy, "I apologize for time wasted. I request to be excused from you for a minute; I must go keep these at my home."

"It would be easier if we came along, it will be necessary for us to know where you live."

Aria nodded, "Agreed, Hatake-san."

Itachi looked at her in the eye, still trying to get used to her unique trait, "I thought you did not tolerate formalities at all."

Aria shrugged, giving them the first human gesture since they met, "That is only for my own name."

"If that's the case, you should call us by our names too. It'd be hypocrisy." Kakashi suggested.

Aria looked at Kakashi and nodded, "I will attempt to do so in the future, Hatake-san."

She continued, "However, right now, I must place this at home."

Her house wasn't half-bad. It was the top floor of one of Konoha's best apartments and hers was a friggin' penthouse. She quickly went into the kitchen, which could house the Hokage's office within it. She opened one fridge and neatly arranged the mandarins inside it within a surprising ten minutes.

She called out, still in her icy voice, "Feel free to look around, the genjutsu traps I set will obviously not harm the likes of you three."

Kakashi leant the doorframe of the kitchen, curiously watching this 'assassin' get involved in domestic chores. Aria looked up at him as she placed the cinnamon neatly into several jars. Everything was in tip-top order.

Kakashi's mouth spoke before he could stop it, "You have OCD."

Aria stood up, fixing everything into place before nodding, "You observe well. However, it is under control and I need no medications. It is a request I ask of you to keep this from those two."

Kakashi looked at her incredulously, "They are also your teammates."

Aria added, "You are the captain. I sanction only you to knowing one of my weaknesses. Mandarin?"

Kakashi gratefully accepted it and asked, "There's more?"

Aria was already finished with three and he hadn't even once seen her face, "We all are human."

Kakashi carefully tried to eye her as she scarfed down another mandarin. He failed to see her face. He sighed inwardly; looks like someone had beaten him at his own game.

The Uchiha brothers came towards the kitchen, "What's taking you so long?"

Aria held out several more of the infernally orange fruit, "A mandarin?"

Itachi accepted one while Sasuke declined as normally as possible; he hated anything that was sweet.

The color orange reminded Kakashi of his former student Naruto once again. He smirked as an idea popped into his head.

"Say, Aria…do you by any chance know anyone else in this village?" Kakashi asked, nudging Itachi to play along with him.

"No I do not. I hope you would care to squander a moment at my expense for that purpose."

Itachi tried to bring out an emotion in her by speaking, "So, let's go."

The ANBU HQ was definitely something Aria had not expected. It had facilities that she had never expected to see there.

"Oi boys who the hell is that sexy goddess you dressed up in ANBU gear?" Genma barely managed to dodge the kunai that came his way, although it did make its way onto a table, where three more masked ANBU sat and were sharing a conversation.

Itachi almost laughed at that point while Kakashi smirked, "He's had it coming."

"This worthless annoyance is worthy to be among your elite?" Aria's voice nearly let out irritation.

That caught the ears of every ANBU in the vicinity.

"What gives you the right to speak like that, Freaky eyes?" An ANBU with a rather young voice and the mask of a Cat spoke, only to have freezing cold metal against her neck.

Most of them did an uptake; they hadn't even seen the woman drag out her sword.

"Comments like that are infernally useless in our line of duty, little kitten." Aria seemed to add the last two words just rile the woman she threatened up.

A voice immediately tore the place apart, "You freaky woman, get your hands off of Sakura-chan right now, or else…"

Aria shrugged, "Or else you will kill me, maim me, and cause me fatal harm? What else is likely, boy?"

Naruto felt his demon chakra begin to take control of himself. Itachi quickly forced Aria to let go of the Cat ANBU and spoke, "You lack subtlety to a fault, Aria. Keep this up and there will be more enemies in store for you here than allies."

Naruto was calmed by Sasuke when Sasuke sighed, "Aria put the sword back in its sheath."

Aria did as she was told and she looked at Kakashi for the first time with confusion in her eyes.

Kakashi realized and spoke, "Oh guys, this is a new recruit. Tsunade was being shady and she didn't tell us much about this one. Her name's Aria and she'll be in our team."

Genma snarled, "Like hell she will when I'm done with her, she thinks she's boss, she was throwing kunai around like some assassin!"

The hand that Kakashi had on Aria's shoulder gripped it more firmly, even more so when he felt the familiar jolt of killing intent pulsate through her body.

"Do you wish to talk big words or prove your worth, boy?" Aria spoke. Kakashi concealed his chuckle behind his mask; Genma was his age and far from a 'boy'. Genma's ego was on the line here.

"The fight is on, bitch!"

It had been going on for two hours, where Aria was simply dodging his moves with killer grace and heck, she found the time to look at her nails while she was at it. Kakashi sighed, "Knock him out, Aria. This has been dragged out long enough."

Aria and Kakashi's eyes met at that moment when she spoke, "You know what I am. If I begin, I will not stop until the lights go out."

Some of the other ANBU exclaimed, "Kakashi, what the hell did that woman just mean by that?"

Kakashi observed the young woman with a hint of pride. It would be intriguing to fight by her side. She possessed grace that in it brought forth calls of the underworld. However, trying to stop her from killing anything and anyone that roused her short fuse would be annoying. She reminded him of his former student, Sakura. However, she was just much more frozen and deadly. Kakashi was interrupted from his thoughts by a scream. He did not like it.

However, the scream was heard from one of the ANBU who, for crying out loud, FAINTED.

Kakashi looked at them and felt a loud scream build inside himself.

Before all of them, lay the tattered, bloodstained, mutilated corpse of their friend Genma Shiranui.

Kakashi's mind could only draw a blank.

So, please don't kill me Genma fans. I'm sure you'll be relieved in the next chapter.

**SPOILER ALERT BEGIN**

"_What the hell did she do?" Kakashi asked his old friend._

"_Man, she's got skill. I didn't wake up until I heard you people beating the shit out of her. Dude that was one heck of a genjutsu! Didn't you see through it, Itachi?"_

**SPOILER ALERT END**

So I won't beg for reviews or something. I'm just hoping to run a poll.

Whom do you want our little Ice Princess Aria to get together with? Winning character will get an ending with her, though I'm still not sure whether it will be a happy or a sad one. So choose.

Hatake Kakashi

Itachi Uchiha

Uchiha Sasuke

Other (please specify)

Ciao for now then!


	2. Saved and Bruised beyond Measure

So uh…yeah, I forgot the disclaimer before. Ya, hey, I edited the characters' heights here a bit. Sasuke is out of the poll; I couldn't help but make him gay with Sai. It was just too awesome (at least in my head it was). Teehee…

**DISCLAMER:** **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.** _Only original characters here belong to me._

So um…enjoy: 3

A Dragon Rose

She had an unhealthy craze for oranges and cinnamon. Tsunade was cagey and she had no qualms placing her in the Black Ops. She was strangely…intriguing. They could give her that much.

2: Saved and Bruised beyond measure

Kakashi grabbed Aria by the collar, still trying to cope with the gruesome image before him. He'd seen a lot of fresh corpses. However, he'd never seen a body shredded to such extent in his thirty-one years of life. The bloody fuck, he was a veteran for crying out loud.

Before anyone could register anything, they found themselves out for blood at the brute death sprite before them. People did not take a liking to her with her attitude and hell; they were going to torture her before dragging her out to Tsunade. She took each hit without as much as the slightest cry of agony, even when Kakashi had fried her gut with a Chidori.

Before Kakashi and the others could continue, they heard a voice behind them, "Yo, what the fuck are you guys doing to the girl? She beat me, I admit it!"

Everyone turned to see their renowned womanizer, still very much alive.

Itachi called out to the living Genma, "Kai!"

The living Genma exclaimed, "Oi, so-called grandmaster of genjutsu! That mutilated, rotting corpse behind you was the frigging genjutsu, not me!"

"What the hell did she do?" Kakashi asked his old friend.

"Man, she's got skill. I didn't wake up until I heard you people beating the shit out of her. Dude that was one heck of a genjutsu! Didn't you see through it, Itachi?"

Everyone turned to see the new recruit. She was bloodied up and most of it was definitely her own.

Not knowing what to say her, Kakashi looked around to see the corpse. It disappeared.

Aria merely stood up and took the kunai out of her right shoulder before throwing it at a tree nearby.

"I see the Konoha shinobi care greatly for their fallen." Aria simply choked out, her lung was punctured and even Kakashi cringed at the wound he inflicted on her gut.

Before Sakura could take another step forward, Aria stopped her, "I am also a medic, woman. Do not waste your chakra for what I can heal myself."

She voiced, "I take my leave for today. The wounds need tending to."

In her bloodied up state, she teleported, leaving a whirlwind of black and white feathers in her wake.

"She didn't kill him. You have no rights to say anything to her." Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, wishing to call Aria and ask her for the hangover medicine again.

Itachi sighed, "We…uh…are you sure she can handle the Chidori?"

"Handle the WHAT?!" Tsunade exclaimed, glaring at Kakashi.

Kakashi shrugged, "If she really did kill him, she deserved to go through pain. Ibiki taught us that."

Tsunade exclaimed, "I don't care what Ibiki said! Go to her house and apologize!"

The scream had vibrated the walls of the office and certainly the three shinobi in it.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The three men chorused.

"What I don't understand is did she play a prank on us or merely test us?" Sasuke sighed.

Sasuke contemplated the latter, "Nope, her words, remember? It definitely was a test. Besides, a freezing cold bitch like her probably doesn't even have the word 'prank' in her vocabulary."

"A prank is a trick of an amusing, playful, or sometimes malicious nature._Origin is_uncertain. Synonyms are caper, escapade, antic, and shenanigan." A voice behind them startled them.

They turned to see Aria, changed into less…serious clothing. She was in a pair of fitted jeans and a black turtleneck top covered with a jeans jacket. If it weren't for that infernal mask of her and those creepy eyes, she would have actually looked…hot.

"You healed yourself from a Chidori that quickly?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, trying not to pull his shock through in his voice.

"It is easy. You fix the organs, heal the tissue, graft over proper skin and remove the scar-"

Kakashi interrupted her, "I meant; it is difficult to do so. How did you do it?"

"I merely healed myself using basic medical techniques." Aria shrugged before continuing, "Well, I received word from Tsunade-sama and I was just about to look for you three. The spy team returned from their destination much more quickly it seems."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Itachi spoke.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "right now? I promised a rabbit that-"

"Taichou, this is serious." Aria looked up at him. Kakashi got unnerved by those eyes. He'd yet to trust her with something.

"Tell me I'm drunk." Tsunade's amber eyes widened, "Aria, you got the lazy Copy Nin to come on time? That too, he's come along with the team?"

Aria quickly procured a stem of asparagus out of nowhere and handed it to Tsunade when Itachi suddenly came in between them. Aria and Itachi both had kunais to each other's necks.

"I am handing her, the basic ingredient to the hangover medicine she requested." Aria's eyes looked right into Itachi's activated Sharingan. Still, he'd been ill at ease.

Tsunade quickly bit into the stalk and sighed, "Relax, stop trying to kill your teammate, both of you."

Aria's voice suddenly took on a very light tone and for once she actually sounded her age, "Tsunade-sama, I've got a surprise for you. I promise you that it is not a genjutsu and details will be gone over under the safety of privacy."

Tsunade looked confused. Aria turned to the window, "You can come in now."

A masked spy quickly came in and Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Whoa, you actually got one of your spies to come back this quickly?"

The other three men were armed at all times; this woman was unpredictable.

Tsunade face palmed in the face of Konoha's three (she wouldn't dare tell them) hottest in the poll of handsome shinobi. She sighed, "Honestly, I'd like you to stop suspecting her."

Tsunade turned to Aria, "Now, you were saying…?"

Aria spoke to the man in a different, unintelligible language when the man took off his mask, a short cascade of pale blue fell to his shoulders.

His dark emerald green eyes met Tsunade's wide amber ones as he took her name to his lips with the caress that only a lover could have, "Tsunade…"

Tsunade turned to Aria and was ready to attack her with a sake bottle when Dan came in the way, holding onto Tsunade's hands. The situation became very awkward, as the other three men in the room had kunai stuck to both Dan and Aria's necks.

"Is this really not an illusion?" Tsunade looked at Aria before looking at the man who'd plagued her nightmares for eons since she lost him.

Dan smiled, "No, Tsunade. If you want proof, I could make Itachi here dance a tango."

Tsunade actually giggled; a pale flush over her cheeks. What she did next made the three ANBU have a run for their money. She embraced Aria, tears falling from her eyes like a new-born river.

"I don't know what you did to bring him back, nor do I want you to continue it, but thank you." Tsunade hugged Aria, who looked at Dan in confusion. Dan made the gestures for a hug that Aria followed, still not understanding why Tsunade was crying when she had brought Dan back to life.

Tsunade realized that she was in the company of her most valued ANBU officers and immediately straightened herself, the lump in her voice still obvious.

"Take this scroll and follow Aria. This is not an act of insubordination, Hatake. She merely has a background for this mission which is why she has to brief all three of you. Now shoo!"

When they left, Dan asked, "Have you missed me?"

Tsunade embraced him, her tears resuming their respective places once more, "Yes, you idiot!"

"What background do you have with 'this' mission, Aria?" Kakashi asked.

"And what the fuck are we doing in your roof? Would it kill you to dress more decently?" Sasuke cursed, trying to stop himself from succumbing to the fact that she changed her normal shirt for a halter top, her strangely scarred upper back rather obvious.

Kakashi looked at Aria, his lone eye adamant, "Aria. You healed yourself from my Chidori."

Aria rolled her eyes, "Brilliant deduction there, Taichou."

Kakashi chose to ignore the personal jab she sported towards him. He proceeded to question her.

"You have no evidence that you were even beaten up earlier today. So how do you sport scars?"

The question from Kakashi hit Aria, not that she let anyone see it.

"Those were minor, simple injuries. I believe you only get scars from extremely violent injuries, Taichou." Aria replied before becoming serene, "You are not to say a word to the outside world for what I am about to show to you. I _will_ seal your tongues should I see it fit."

The three men at first paled. If Kakashi's Chidori, capable of killing three people if inflicted correctly, was a minor injury to this woman, what the hell was 'extremely violent' injuries? They, regardless of their experience, did not want to know.

Aria suddenly began to curl herself into a fetal position, her body hovering a few feet above the ground, leaving three shinobi totally gob smacked. Aria sighed before letting her strongest and weakest link unfold from her shoulder blades. Her wings.

They wondered what the hell was going in on. Her wings definitely one of an angel, however, her little grouping of feathers was completely black. The wingspan had to be a minimum of twenty feet, in total approximation, Kakashi contemplated.

"I am half-angel, half-human. I am the Angel of Death's twin. We were conceived under heteropaternal super fecundation. My father was a mortal, but I do not know who he is. Abandoned at the age of five, I was raised by Tsunade-sama."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "So the scars-"

Aria finished his sentenced, "They hired one too many to eliminate me. They chose to lower themselves to hiring demons and these demons are the cause of all the scars you see on my upper back. I, having a strange mania that was diagnosed as dacnomania by Tsunade-sama, managed to evade all those chances of having my life force extinguished."

To see three grown, veteran ANBU officers was definitely a one in a million sight. Aria did not understand their shock at her being something other than human.

"Speak of this to any other person and I will eradicate you." Aria growled.

"So these…demons," Itachi barely managed to let the word out, "are working alongside Orochimaru and they're kidnapping young women for…what?"

"No, Orochimaru is working _for_ them and the women are generally between the ages of fifteen and thirty because that is the age when women are most fertile." Aria continued, annoyed by the men's embarrassment. Clearly, her mouth had no zipper over it.

"What does their…fertility have to do with any of this?" Sasuke asked, choking on his glass of water.

Aria pointed to the detailed reports from some of the other spies Tsunade hired. She looked at them and asked, "Do you have any familiarity with demonic customs?"

As she observed their gawking faces (in case of Kakashi, his blank expression) for a moment, she shrugged, "Judging from your surprisingly shocked faces, I believe not."

"Demons have no half-blood offspring. Mate a human with a person that has even the slightest amount of demonic heritage and you will get a demon. This is because even the slightest amount of the demonic essence can corrupt an entire soul. However, it is difficult to conceive females for both angels and demons. Since demons are beginning to run out of full-blood demon females, they are looking to find human females with genetic codes the most compatible with demonic blood, so that they can turn them into complete demons before using them as fertility vessels." That was probably the longest speech all of them ever heard from the woman.

Kakashi uncomfortably shifted in his place on the sofa. The woman really lacked intricacy.

"So this is some quest to recover the women?" Itachi asked.

"This is…it is saddening that Tsunade-sama hasn't told you. You're being pulled in for a very long haul with this mission. This, I expect, may span over the next five to six years. We will need more people to be involved in this."

The three men chorused, "What?!"

A loud rapping at the doors interrupted them.

The Rookie eleven boys were outside the door.

Sasuke exclaimed, "What the hell's going on?"

Naruto looked grim, "The girls were just having a girls' night out. Some people broke into the Hyuuga compound and made off with them. They couldn't take Hanabi. She's in the hospital. Tsunade-baa-chan summoned all of us and she called for you guys!"

Aria made her way through the crown to see _Tsunade_ struggling to keep a hemorrhaging Hanabi stable. The moment she laid eyes on Hanabi, Aria looked up at Tsunade, her eyes looked grim.

"Clear everyone out, Tsunade-sama. Shizune-san, bring in some monkshood and somebody get me some holy water! This woman is going to die within the hour if we don't hurry."

Tsunade looked at Aria blankly, "What's holy water?"

Aria looked at Tsunade incredulously before hurrying again, "Everyone out right now! Shizune-san, inject five cc of hemlock into her blood drip. If that doesn't work, begin feeding her any sort of soup infused with the seed of a belladonna berry. I'll go get the holy water. Can anyone here lead me to a friggin' church?"

Kakashi elbowed his way through the thinning crowd, "There's one near the Hatake compound."

The night was grim and Aria raced alongside Kakashi, "Taichou, can't we just teleport?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I don't know why, but we cannot teleport near that church's grounds."

It was the first time he'd seen Aria lose her frozen composure like that. As they made it into the grounds, she all but dived into it.

The parish, a civilian, smiled, "What brings a young woman to the church this late at night?"

"Father, we are in dire need of holy water. A demon has laced an ally's blood with his essence and if we do not hurry, the ally will become one of them!"

The parish's eyes widened before he quickly retreated in his chambers before coming out with a large bottle and an ornate cross. The parish spoke, "I believe you know how to exorcize demons."

Aria nodded, thanked the priest and left off with Kakashi.

The parish looked grim, he'd never heard of demons in this area since the Third Shinobi war. Things were becoming very unsettling. He whispered, "May God, be with you."

Hanabi had begun thrashing around, her sclera becoming bloodshot as the essence tried to take a hold of her. Aria arrived and exclaimed, "Taichou, hold this cross over her heart. Shizune-san, monitor her vitals." Everyone looked at Aria in confusion as she broke the mirror off of the wall and asked Tsunade, Itachi and Sasuke to hold it over Hanabi's body.

Aria injected the first dose of holy water into Hanabi's bloodstream, chanting a prayer.

"Taichou, I need you to assist Tsunade-sama and the others in holding the mirror while I exorcize her. When I say drop it, you must smash the mirror into smithereens. Do not look at the mirror."

Kakashi began to protest, "Wha-"

It was the first time she took his name, but it was dangerously powerful, "Kakashi, time is running out. We need to finish this quickly."

As she prayed with the cross over Hanabi, Aria kept injecting her with holy water. Hanabi's screams made almost everyone in the room pale.

As she prayed, she saw the demon move completely into the mirror. She screamed at everyone, "Throw it out! Throw it out now!"

She kept praying to keep the demon inside the mirror when Sasuke got a peek of the creature stuck inside it. His reaction was exactly the one she recalled having when she saw her first demon. He fell to his knees, screaming in fear.

The others manage to shatter the glass while Aria created a chakra shield around them.

While everyone recovered, Aria calmed Sasuke by saying, "Stop screaming. The realm of Hell feeds on your fear and despair."

Sasuke quieted down, nodding as Aria turned to the others, "I'm sorry but not everything in the world is entirely medical, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade nodded, paling from the expressions she'd seen Hanabi make.

Hanabi suddenly got up, frantically yelling, "They got them! They got them!"

Tsunade calmed the sixteen-year old down, saying, "What happened?"

"We were talking. These men came in and all the guards….the guards were destroyed, their bodies blasted apart…blood…blood…they took all four of them, including my sister!"

Aria's voice remained impervious, "Typical demonic killing…she'll develop hemophobia within the next few days. It will be wise to make her a medic; she will be useless in battle."

Itachi growled, "You mean you can't fix this?"

"I'm a half-blood. I am not a miracle worker. Be thankful that I even managed to get that soldier demon out of her. As for the ones missing…"

She turned to Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, were the women romantically involved with anyone?"

Tsunade looked at her incredulously, "What are you saying?"

"Under demon code, women who have a claim staked on them will be returned without much harm; however, they're demons so I doubt that they will play fair. I will need four ANBU officers that do not include Taichou, Uchiha-san and his little brother."

"Why are you leaving us out?" Itachi all but exclaimed. How dare she deem them weak?

Aria glared at the Sharingan activated Uchiha heir, "You three do not have women to protect or are homosexual. You will be more susceptible to being possessed and I cannot accompany you to this mission. While officers rescue the damsels, I must go see someone and acquire some things and chemicals we need."

Tsunade asked, "Like what?"

"Weapons that Konoha has never seen before and yes, I will need these three to come with me." Aria gestured the team she'd been prepared with.

Suddenly, when Aria looked at the clock, she exclaimed, "Everyone alert patrol guards! Have people line the entire village of Konoha in a boundary of salt!"

"What is wrong with you?" Kakashi asked.

"If demons attacked this place undetected, it means we must cover the entire area. It's only thirty minutes to three a.m."

Tsunade exclaimed, "Konoha is too big to do that in thirty minutes!"

Aria stiffened, "Alert everyone to keep a pile of salt near them. Tell them keep at least one candle alit inside their homes until dawn."

Tsunade looked at the other three, "You know what to do."

Aria spoke, "Sasuke can't move nor do much until dawn. The first demon finding is always the worst."

Kakashi spoke, "Team Kakashi, move out!"

"They've taken several more girls from the civilian district." A very sleepy Kakashi reported.

They'd been all night, trying to alert everyone to protect themselves from such a gruel fate. Still, casualties occurred and it was a hard blow for the two shinobi.

Aria, however, still looked fresh, "We need the guards to place a line of salt around the whole village, Tsunade-sama. Or else, we keep losing more of the women each day."

"What about my former apprentice and her friends?" Tsunade looked hung over.

"Forgive me if I have committed insubordination, but I left the city to get them back at dawn." Aria looked down at her feet.

Tsunade stood up from her seat, "What? How'd you get them back?"

Aria looked down, "I killed everyone on sight. I apologize, Tsunade-sama, I have given the enemy the signal and they are bound to move base. I have broken the law and-"

Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, surprised that he met no resistance. His lone eye attempted to crinkle at the honorable act his new teammate did.

"Those who break rules are scum but those who abandon allies in time of need are worse than scum." Kakashi's grip on her shoulder became stronger.

Itachi asked, "Wow, this woman is in Konoha for a day and heck her luck probably even worse than-"

Tsunade's words were terrifying, "Itachi, I know this is your sleepiness talking. One more word out of that mouth of yours and I will personally see to it that your bones are broken. Now go get rest."

"Aria, I left the mission scroll at your place. May I take it so delve a bit more into this?" Kakashi asked, thinking that his mind was going to burst from all the new things he'd been seeing.

"Yes, of course, Taichou." Aria nodded.

When Aria came out of the kitchen with a mandarin, Kakashi was dead asleep on her couch with papers scattered all around him.

So it's the end of this chapter.

**SPOILER ALERT BEGINNING **

"_Is she well-versed in these matters?" Kakashi asked Tsunade._

_Tsunade laughed, "She's the twin of the Angel of Death. She's also my adopted daughter."_

_Kakashi stared._

**SPOILER ALERT END**

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would appreciate it if you could tell me whether my chapters are too long or too short.

Ciao!


	3. Chapter 3

Eh…I'm back. I was hoping that I'd be missed. =A=

**DISCLAMER:** **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.** _Only original characters here belong to me._

So um…enjoy: 3

A Dragon Rose

She had an unhealthy craze for oranges and cinnamon. Tsunade was cagey and she had no qualms placing her in the Black Ops. She was strangely…intriguing. They could give her that much.

3: Reeking of Cinnamon and mandarins

Kakashi woke up to the scent of a soft buttery, cinnamon perfume lingering around him. It was at that moment when he realized he wasn't in his own home. Itachi snickered as Kakashi got up, his back hurting from the infernally small couch. Its 5'6" length just wasn't big enough to suit his six foot one frame. Itachi sighed, "So you finally got up, Sleeping Beauty."

Kakashi realized his hidai ate was missing. Instinctively closing his left eye, he asked, "Where is my hidai-ate? I remember having it on when I fell asleep."

Itachi chuckled, "The newbie took it off, saying that it cut circulation to your eyes if you had something like that on when you were sleeping."

Sasuke was still pale from his encounter, and he just wasn't able to deactivate his Sharingan. Aria came out of the kitchen and sighed, "Taichou, you woke up just in time for lunch. Please stop distressing yourself in that sofa; it is not long enough to support your entire frame."

Aria gestured them to sit down at the table. She spoke in a 'you-better-not-say-no' voice, "I am not very good at cooking; I hope whatever I did cook will suffice."

Kakashi took the seat beside Aria and Itachi sighed. Both looked like aliens. Itachi caught Sasuke trying to use his Sharingan to figure out their faces. He nudged him when Sasuke sharply whispered, "Grant me peace, Aniki. I need to do something to distract myself from my thoughts."

Aria added in, "Let him be, Uchiha-san. I understand his actions and I'm surprised he's actually able to speak after such a short time."

Itachi asked insensitively, "What's so bloodcurdling that it would make you speechless for a while?"

Sasuke choked on his food before closing his eyes, trying to rid himself of images that his mind kept conjuring. He took several deep breaths and finally managed to deactivate his Sharingan, trying to concentrate on the rice he had in his bowl. In understanding, Itachi apologized.

Itachi took a gentle whiff of the rice and raised an eyebrow, "Did you add any sort of…citrus element to the rice? The scent is beautiful."

Aria nodded, her voice unwaveringly icy, "It is appreciated that it was to your liking and yes, it is a… habit for me to add fresh mandarin or orange peel to the rice before cooking it."

Kakashi turned to speak to Aria, "Aria, we are your teammates. Stop talking in that fake, ice coated voice of yours. It would be calming for us as well."

Aria attempted several times to speak in the way they asked her to but failed rather miserably, earning a round of laughter from the other three. She asked, "What is this 'normal' voice you speak of? I do not recall ever changing my tone."

Itachi was quick to point, "One, when you surprised Tsunade, it became light and mischievous. Two, when you saw Hanabi, you became frantic as you dished around orders. Three, you had a light warmth to your voice as you carefully removed Kakashi's hidai ate."

Kakashi suddenly felt a jolt of remembrance and asked, "Speaking of which, where is it?"

Left-handed as she was; Aria pointed to Kakashi's food with her chopsticks and spoke, "This may be rude, but I ask you to finish your food before charging around my abode, Taichou."

"Here it is." Aria placed it on the table, just far enough for Kakashi to stand up and reach for it.

Kakashi sighed at the woman's nuances before asking, "May I pose a question, Aria?"

Aria nodded, slowly chewing on a strip of lean meat, her delight evident in the flush on her cheeks. She quickly swallowed the piece of meat held in her chopsticks before replying, "Yes, Taichou."

"First of all, stop calling me Taichou. I'm thirty-one and you're-" Realization hit Kakashi harder than one of Tsunade's punches laced with all the chakra in her Yin seal.

Aria replied, "I'm twenty. You were a Jounin in Lord Minato's team when I was learning how to walk, Taichou. If this about, according to Uchiha-san, you feeling matured, then I will cease to call you so."

Kakashi face palmed, "You need to get lessons in subtlety."

"I do not understand." Aria looked at Itachi with a questioning look.

Itachi suddenly remembered and he placed his bowl down, "Kakashi, when you're done with lunch, you'll have to go Hokage tower. This is about the mission so no tarrying. Otherwise, we have Aria."

Aria looked at Itachi questioningly, "You have me for what, Uchiha-san?"

Itachi sighed, "Aria, the least you owe me after all this is calling me Itachi."

Aria nodded, "Okay, Itachi-san, now as I was saying, you have me for what?"

Sasuke burst out laughing at the dubious look on Itachi's face. He sighed inwardly, the girl's been trained the way they do in ROOT or she's doing this on purpose.

"Kakashi is always late." Sasuke stated. Aria looked at Kakashi for one moment before asking, "Then why is it that I have never seen him delay progress?"

Itachi finished his food and replied, "For some reason, he hasn't done that because he is either serious about this mission for the fat paycheck or you have officially intimidated the Copy Nin."

"Who is it?" Tsunade asked the person who chose this moment to bother her. Damn the Kakashi, he was always late for every damned-

The door opened to reveal the Copy Nin, Kakashi Hatake.

"Come in, Kakashi. Whoever's messing with your timing must definitely be your other half." Tsunade laughed, not having seen Kakashi on time since Obito's passing.

"Highly unlikely, Hokage-sama; my other half wouldn't be a masked freak with mismatched eyes and an amazing miso soup cook."

In mock understanding, Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "She sounds just like you; isn't that a charm?"

"It hurts one's pride to be beaten at his own game, Hokage-sama." Kakashi growled. Unbeknownst to Tsunade, under his mask, his cheeks childishly became huffed.

Tsunade went into business mode, "This mission is actually made of many tinier, but all S-class, missions. I still haven't asked for your approval on it."

"We're a team. Why would we refuse, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi's lone eye crinkled.

"Know this, we are not dealing with humans or human plants or immortals or freaky scientists anymore. We are dealing with ethereal realms where mortals have no place."

"Is she well-versed in these matters?" Kakashi asked Tsunade, "Other than exorcism and all that…"

Tsunade laughed, "She's the twin of the Angel of Death. She's also my adopted daughter."

Kakashi stared. He could barely make out the words from his lips, "Wait, what?"

Dan came in through the window with a report in his hand, "The mission was a success, and Tsunade-chan… everyone was uninjured. So it's my turn."

Tsunade smiled gently at him, her voice firm, "It's my turn."

Dan looked at her with his cheeks huffed, "No it's my turn."

Tsunade playfully glared at him, "No, it's my turn, Dan."

Kakashi interrupted their goopy little encounter by pretending to gag, "No, it's my turn to throw up."

Tsunade controlled the blood that was gushing onto her cheeks before saying, "As I was saying, each little mission is S-class because this is very dangerous. I'm sure she told you that your Chidori was a minor injury. Do the math, Hatake. An extreme wound for someone like her will mean absolute death for you three if you're not careful. She will heal at every moment possible but when things get ugly, you will need to retreat. Is that clear?"

"Crystal, Hokage-sama; I'll be taking my leave now, it seems Kato-san still has a lot to say to you." Kakashi dodged the chair that was thrown his way and waved them a lazy two-fingered salute as he made his escape through the window.

He made his way to the training grounds to find Itachi and Aria engaged in double sword combat. Both had inflicted gashes on one another but Aria had her angelic healing to her advantage. However, in order to balance the fight out, she had rather heavy looking weights attached to her legs. Itachi charged again, smirking as he felt the familiar course of adrenaline pulsate through his body once more. He, finally, had an opponent that was making him work for it.

It ended in a stalemate as both dropped their swords in surrender, collapsing onto the ground to rest. Aria crawled over to where Itachi sat, healing him as she removed the weights and threw them in random directions. One hit Kakashi on a place where no man wanted to be hit. Kakashi barely let out any signs of agony before he collapsed onto the ground, ranting, "I let…I let my guard down for one moment… to speak to Sasuke here and you guys… go hell bent on making me impotent?"

"It is a weakness of mine that I cannot work with weights around my legs. They impede me." Aria stated the obvious, healing the damage the weights caused to her cells.

Itachi stood up, "It's almost evening. We should go home and start lining the places with salt or blue paint, according to the charlatan we have here."

A loud SMACK was heard as Itachi received a punch to the back of his head for another rudimentary comment against the little Nightingale. He growled before glaring at her.

"I relish the thought of killing you. However, I would be beaten the way they beat me and I do not like taking kunai out of my shoulders, no matter how resistant I may seem to pain."

"I take my leave then, Taichou, Itachi-san, and Sasuke-san." She turned to leave when Itachi called out, "Wait, Aria. Could you tell us more about these…the demon matters?"

"It is almost dusk, Itachi-san. We must hasten to line houses with salt or else the demons will attack." Aria sighed, actually worried about what the demons might do for vengeance.

"I've asked the Council to bring out more books on these and I thought they would prove useful for you." Itachi stated, still staring at the blood-red dusk.

Aria raised an eyebrow, "So where are these books?"

Itachi replied; still not used to the mismatched gaze, "At the Uchiha compound, there's a library."

"Welcome home, my dears. Oh hello, Kakashi-kun! Who might this young lady be?" Mikoto's motherly gaze caused Aria's heart wrench, not that anyone had noticed that.

"The new recruit to the team; Ma'am, the name's Aria." Aria stood firm, and it was surprising that she shared Sasuke's height of 5'5" (minus his spiky mane of course).

Mikoto smiled warmly, "It is nice to see a young lady in the house every once in a while, come in!"

As they did, a little boy ran their way exclaiming, "Uncle Itachi! Uncle Sasuke! You're back!"

As he came running, he slipped, falling on his face. As he got up, he began to cry, thanks to the entire blood canal gushing out his nose. Aria was quick to kneel down beside the boy. Keeping her eyes closed, she said in a motherly tone, "Ssh, you mustn't cry. Don't you want to become strong like your uncles when you grow up?" She swiftly healed the injury before removing the blood from his face. The boy slowly stopped his sniffling before smiling, "Yes, I'll become better than my daddy too!"

Aria quickly stood up, "Then I suggest you study harder to graduate quickly, child."

"Okay!" The little boy smiled in all his innocence, "Are you a shinobi like my uncles, miss?"

Aria ruffled his hair and replied, "Yes, I am a kunoichi."

The little boy's obsidian eyes widened with excitement as he went running through the compound, exclaiming, "I met a kunoichi! I met a kunoichi!"

Aria turned to see three very surprised shinobi. Aria looked at them, trying to coat her voice in ice once again, "What happened? Why do you three look at me that way?"

Mikoto laughed when Fugaku entered the scene, his expression just as serene as Aria's.

"The new recruit Hokage-sama has hired for Itachi and Kakashi's team?" Fugaku stated.

Aria nodded, "Yes, sir."

"What are your credentials?" Fugaku asked Aria, his gaze unfazed by Aria's mismatched eyes.

Itachi was about to intervene when Fugaku raised a hand. Aria looked at Itachi and gave him a reassuring look with her eyes before turning to Fugaku.

"I am the former assassin 'Nightingale'. I have been instated as a Konoha citizen to repay an old debt I have to Tsunade-sama." Aria's gaze was steely as she extended a hand to Fugaku.

Fugaku shook it, testing Aria's grip as he looked her in the eye.

"You have a firm grip for a mere woman." Fugaku spoke, his voice trying to intimidate Aria.

Aria replied with equal rime, "I assure you, sir; I am not a mere woman."

"The Konoha shinobi and the Hokage will be the judge of that."

"This is very bad. This is very, very bad." Aria's voice had a ghost of worry tinted with it. Itachi turned to see Aria studying the Kyuubi attack twenty five years prior when she suddenly stood up, "The presence of a demon in this village ultimately nullifies basic defenses; we must-"

Kakashi got away with giving her a hard slap, furious that she would speak of his former student that way. He growled, "He is a Jinchuriki. Being a carrier was not his choosing."

Realizing what he had done, he stormed out of the library in need of a drink.

Itachi looked confused and flabbergasted at the same time, "You could have stopped that slap that he was going to give you. Why did you let him?"

Aria's eyes seemed to glow for a moment after which she spoke, "I have read about the Jinchuriki here. I was testing waters with the comment and we will need the Jinchuriki's help tomorrow at exactly the crack of dawn. We must put up a warp defense around the entire village. We will need elemental users."

Itachi looked down to read more into the Namikaze bloodline when he heard a cough. He looked up to see Aria's fingers on her mask, evident that she had already pulled it up. She held out her hand, rather full as she tried to keep the glob of blood in it.

"Is there a place nearby for me to get rid of this?" Aria asked, her tongue evidently trying to stop the bleeding in her mouth. Not that he'd seen her face, sadly.

"Three doors down the corridor; turn to your left." Itachi cringed before adding, "Try not to spill any of that. My mother handpicked the mahogany boards for the floor and the stain would upset her."

Aria nodded, "I am using my chakra to control it in the form of this glob. It won't fall."

Aria quickly slid the door open to the washroom to see Kakashi staring at himself in the mirror. His mask was down. She immediately closed her eyes and tried to calm him by saying, "I will not look. Why you wear a mask over your face is your choice. I choose to respect said choice, Taichou."

"Kakashi." He stated, now feeling guilty as he saw the blood glob in her hands.

"I beg your pardon?" Aria looked at him, her eyes finally revealing disbelief.

"My first name is Kakashi." Kakashi stated, noticing the difficulty Aria was having speaking. She needed to heal herself and for that she needed to take her mask down.

"I have knowledge of that, Taichou. You told me when you first spoke to me at the training field."

Aria sighed, "Taichou, I need to heal my jawbone. The lower area is cracked and I must fix it before it heals itself into its displaced form."

Kakashi nodded before saying, "Excuse me, then." He left in a whirlpool of green leaves.

Aria finally washed her hands at the basin, gurgling a bit of cold water from the faucet. She spat out more blood, controlling her chakra to completely fix the bone underneath.

Once complete, she returned to the library where a frantic Naruto was mustered, "Hey, I was gaming with Sasuke and I was winning! Believe it!"

Itachi rolled his eyes, "Sure, Naruto. We believe you when you say that you were 'gaming' with my little brother. Isn't that right, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded when he saw Aria enter the room. He tried to keep his tone under control, "This is the Jinchuriki I was talking about."

Naruto cringed, his title as a demon container had him shunned as a child. Telling a stranger that made him feel despair as a myriad of horrible memories rose from the abyss.

Aria looked at Kakashi in the eye, "Taichou, there is no need for being the cause of the disturbance in his aura. It is…impolite and offensive."

All three of them, now four since Sasuke had gotten into the room moments after Kakashi spoke, gawked at her. _Cause of disturbance in his aura?_ Was it that intricate to say that he was being hurt? On top of that, she spoke of manners and etiquette. Of course, they could trust the Ice lady to say so, it hadn't been two days since she'd been here and she'd gotten everyone to behave out of their original character. Ironic, was it? Yes, the word was ironic.

"Uzumaki-san, could you please describe the relationship that you have with your demon?" Aria questioned him, cerulean eyes becoming creeped out with the cursed eyes she was bestowed with.

"What relationship are you talking about?!" Naruto exclaimed, taking the question in the obvious other way. Kakashi swore he felt the room cool by a few degrees thanks to Aria's silence.

Aria gritted her teeth, "Uzumaki-san, I meant something else. Do you fight with your demon when you use his chakra or does he give it to you willingly?"

Naruto's blue eyes lit up with realization as he answered, "Oh, then why didn't you say so before? You talk in such a complicated way! Yeah, Kyuubi and I used to get into fights before but now we're good friends! He's always giving me advice on stuff! Believe it!"

If the other men weren't used to his mile-a-minute talking antics, they wouldn't have understood a word he said. Aria's aura had taken the room's temperature closing to freezing and as usual, the knucklehead ninja of team seven had, as usual, been impervious to it.

Kakashi stood beside Naruto, shaking his head at Aria. Aria bit into the inside of her right cheek, drawing blood as she spoke, "I suggest a trade, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto looked at her in curiosity, seriousness finally oozing into his mind as he asked, "What sort of trade are you talking about? And Aria-san, I don't know why but Kyuubi says that he doesn't like you. He is asking me to get away from you as fast as I can. Kaka-sensei, is she really that dangerous?"

Aria sighed, "Of course he will dislike me. However, I'd like to speak to him. There is a technique that allows me to do so. Please refrain from taking his advice for once, Uzumaki-san. I'd like to talk to him, but only if _you_ allow me to do so."

Aria resisted the feelings through her body and suppressed them again. Nobody noticed. Not that she cared, nobody ever did.

"Know this, Nightingale. The pup's dream is at stake and you are willing to revive his parents. Otherwise, I never would have helped you in placing these wards." Kyuubi's human form walked beside her as she led Naruto and her ANBU teammates to the Hokage Tower. They opened the door only to have empty sake bottles being thrown at them. While Kakashi and at the others took the effort to dodge and hide, since Tsunade and Dan were _up to something_, Aria remained unfazed as she took caught two bottles that came her way. A third hit her head, causing blood to flow down from her forehead as she walked forward. Giving into her OCD, she nimbly picked up the remnants of the bottle, disposing it into the nearest dustbin. She spoke, "Hokage-sama, this is important."

Tsunade shrieked, "The least you could do is knock, wench!"

The sight of Aria was unsettling. She held two bottles in her hand, blood flowing down from her forehead and over her right eye. She turned to Kyuubi's human form and hissed, "It is good I know of your orientation or I would not hesitate in killing you."

Kyuubi snickered, "Hah, you assassins are such creeps. The scent of your blood is enticing, fix it."

Aria turned to Tsunade, apologizing to Dan, she quickly returned to her icy mode, "We need your strongest elemental users. One for each type and are there any Spirit or Soul users here?"

Tsunade looked at her incredulously, "What's Spirit and Soul?"

Aria raised her left eyebrow and looked at the bottles on her hand. She handed them to Sasuke and sighed, "This is worse than I thought it to be. Hokage-sama, other than Kato-sama, don't you have a single proper Spirit user that I can use for setting up the wards?"

_Things looked bad_, Aria thought, _very, very bad_.

So that's the end of Chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed it. In my opinion, I like the Kakashi x Aria pairing but I'm still willing to put out for votes: D! And now:

**SPOILER ALERT BEGINNING**

_Kakashi looked at her in shock, "That's impossible, Aria. I managed to open only one of the Eight Chakra Gates and I have no inherited dojutsu that may allow me to use any more than four."_

_Aria's eyes, for the first time, widened, "F-five natural affinities, Taichou?"_

_Kakashi nodded, not understanding why. Aria's following words made a double take seem like the dryness of the century, "You undeniably have, however thin, angelic blood running in your veins."_

**SPOILER ALERT END**

Ciao for now!

Ame :3


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